81% Of British Companies See Internet As Business Opportunity

Eight out of ten (81%) of British companies see the development of the Internet as a business opportunity and only 1% feel it to be a threat, according to a survey commissioned by Barclays Bank of the top 1,000 companies.

The survey also found that:

• Over a third (38%) of companies already have an Internet site.
• Of those who were not on-line 42% thought they would need to be before the end of the century.
• The Internet was particularly of interest to companies as a means of fast, cost-effective communication – 66% envisaged using it for communicating with customers and other companies.
• Almost half (48%) would use the Internet to order and purchase goods or supplies from other companies, 40% thought it would be most useful for advertising and 44% to sell their goods and services direct.
• Almost three quarters (72%) are concerned about the lack of security surrounding the Net, over half of companies (55%) were worried about their employees surfing the Net in company time, whilst almost one third (32%) were worried that the Internet would lead to increased competition in their market.
• More than one in five companies (22%) believe that over half of their customers will be using the Internet by the year 2000.

At present an estimated two million people in Britain are connected to the Internet and 35 million world-wide.